The Rangers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-1 last night, capitalizing on the Canes premature pull of goaltender Scott Darling with two minutes left in the third period. Michael Grabner got a hat trick off of two empty net goals and Paul Carey added a last minute trash goal to inflate the score much larger than the actual play would indicate.

The game was pretty evenly matched through the first period and a half, despite Carolina’s goal occurring within one minute of the game opening. You’d never be able to tell from the final scores of each of their matchups, but these two teams are similar: both are fringe playoff teams, both have talent, yet both have glaring issues that need to be fixed in order to go far.

Let’s break down some key points of the game:

  • The opening goal by Justin Williams only 54 seconds into the game was one of those goals you groan over. I was sure we were in for a doozy of a game — in a very negative way — since it looked like one Henrik Lundqvist should have handled.
  • On the replay, it looks like the puck bounced off of Hank’s stick and into the net. You could tell by his body language, though, that he felt he should have had it.
  • One last initial thought, which obviously dissipated: why was Lundqvist even starting this game? The only logical reason would be to give him an opportunity to regain confidence after Tuesday, but at this rate, Lundqvist will have started 75 games by the end of the season.
  • Back to the game as a whole: an early cause for concern was the first Ranger shot on goal coming 4:57 in to the game. This includes a power play. This isn’t “5v5 SOG” or “the first three minutes don’t count” – nearly five whole minutes went by, during which they had two minutes of a man advantage.
  • This was a game with lots of special teams involved: 7 power plays for the Rangers, 3 for the Canes, and one penalty shot missed by Jeff Skinner.
  • Of those power plays, the Rangers converted one into a goal, a mess of a misplay by Scott Darling that proved to be beneficial for David Desharnais and the Rangers. Seriously, if we think Hank is bad with the puck, watch some Darling clips. Woof.
  • The second Rangers goal was by far the most beautiful goal of this game, the first of three for Grabner off a ridiculous cross-ice pass from Kevin Shattenkirk (big thanks to Shayna for the gif):

 

  • Shattenkirk is such a delight to watch. He’s so smart with setting up plays and passing, and it boggles my mind when people complain about his play. Frankly, I wouldn’t want anyone else calling the power play.
  • A bit of lighthearted fun: when the game was 4-1, the Rangers got a power play due to Carolina challenging a call. AV actually put Boo Nieves out on the power play to encourage the rookie’s first NHL goal. Sadly, that went to Paul Carey instead.

Charts below, courtesy of hockeystats.ca:

5v5 Corsi

5v5 shot attempts

Don’t forget that these are for 5 on 5 situations, and that the game was 2-1 until two minutes left in the third period. If you think about this, it only solidifies what we know: this game was controlled by Carolina, and won on the back of Henrik Lundqvist and some seriously sloppy penalties taken by the Hurricanes.

The Rangers have a few days off, embarking on a quick, close road trip on Tuesday to play the lowly Penguins at 7:30.

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